Leveraging Peer-Authored Tutorials to Cultivate Programming Skills and Promote Open Educational Resources: A Multi-Classroom Case Study

Dirk Joel-Luchini Colbry

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Modern Teaching Strategies in Engineering
Tagged Division: Electrical and Computer Engineering Division (ECE)
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/47744

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Paper Authors

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Dirk Joel-Luchini Colbry Michigan State University

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Dr. Dirk Colbry is a faculty member in the Department of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering (CMSE) at Michigan State University. Dr. Colbry earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science and his principle areas of research include scientific image understanding, large scale computing and education.

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Abstract

In computer science and data science education, empowering students to become self-reliant learners with strong problem-solving skills is a key goal. This paper presents a pedagogical approach that harnesses the potential of peer-authored tutorials to foster students' ability to independently explore, understand, and effectively use a diverse set of tools for programming and data analysis. This teaching strategy has been applied across multiple classroom settings including a summer research program, undergraduate data science capstone courses, and a graduate special topics course on generative AI.

The key learning objective of this approach is helping students understand the importance of exploring and understanding tools as part of computer programming education. The specific tools can vary a lot depending on individual classroom learning goals. Some examples include “Setting up ChatGPT to help write code in Jupyter notebooks,” “Building and deploying your own Shiny App,” “Accessing the census API from python,” and “Downloading and installing Seaborn to make more robust figures.” Students are tasked with creating in-depth tool tutorials designed to help their peers learn to use the software effectively. Creating successful tutorials requires that student authors both understand the tools and effectively communicate their functionality to peers. The assignment culminates in the collaborative curation of a git repository that serves as a valuable resource for current and future students. Importantly, these new tutorials are shared under a Creative Commons license and provided as open educational resources (OER), allowing free access by learners worldwide. This paper describes the structure of the tutorial development assignment and the steps involved, sharing insights on how to implement it successfully in different classroom settings. The methodology for assessing the assignment's effectiveness is discussed, including feedback from students and instructors. Additionally, the paper addresses the transferability of this approach to a broad range of programming and data science courses, highlighting its adaptability and the benefits of contributing to the OER ecosystem.

The outcomes of this multi-classroom case study offer valuable insights for educators seeking to enhance their students' tool fluency, self-directed learning capabilities, and collaboration skills while also contributing to OER. By emphasizing the importance of figuring out tools and the creation of comprehensive tutorials for peers, this pedagogical approach not only equips students with essential technical skills but also fosters a culture of mutual support and knowledge sharing in the classroom, contributing to a broader educational community.

Citation
Format

Colbry, D. J. (2024, June), Leveraging Peer-Authored Tutorials to Cultivate Programming Skills and Promote Open Educational Resources: A Multi-Classroom Case Study Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47744

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - In computer science and data science education, empowering students to become self-reliant learners with strong problem-solving skills is a key goal. This paper presents a pedagogical approach that harnesses the potential of peer-authored tutorials to foster students&#39; ability to independently explore, understand, and effectively use a diverse set of tools for programming and data analysis. This teaching strategy has been applied across multiple classroom settings including a summer research program, undergraduate data science capstone courses, and a graduate special topics course on generative AI.

The key learning objective of this approach is helping students understand the importance of exploring and understanding tools as part of computer programming education. The specific tools can vary a lot depending on individual classroom learning goals. Some examples include “Setting up ChatGPT to help write code in Jupyter notebooks,” “Building and deploying your own Shiny App,” “Accessing the census API from python,” and “Downloading and installing Seaborn to make more robust figures.” Students are tasked with creating in-depth tool tutorials designed to help their peers learn to use the software effectively. Creating successful tutorials requires that student authors both understand the tools and effectively communicate their functionality to peers. The assignment culminates in the collaborative curation of a git repository that serves as a valuable resource for current and future students. Importantly, these new tutorials are shared under a Creative Commons license and provided as open educational resources (OER), allowing free access by learners worldwide.
This paper describes the structure of the tutorial development assignment and the steps involved, sharing insights on how to implement it successfully in different classroom settings. The methodology for assessing the assignment&#39;s effectiveness is discussed, including feedback from students and instructors. Additionally, the paper addresses the transferability of this approach to a broad range of programming and data science courses, highlighting its adaptability and the benefits of contributing to the OER ecosystem.

The outcomes of this multi-classroom case study offer valuable insights for educators seeking to enhance their students&#39; tool fluency, self-directed learning capabilities, and collaboration skills while also contributing to OER. By emphasizing the importance of figuring out tools and the creation of comprehensive tutorials for peers, this pedagogical approach not only equips students with essential technical skills but also fosters a culture of mutual support and knowledge sharing in the classroom, contributing to a broader educational community.

AU  - Dirk Joel-Luchini Colbry
CY  - Portland, Oregon
DA  - 2024/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Leveraging Peer-Authored Tutorials to Cultivate Programming Skills and Promote Open Educational Resources: A Multi-Classroom Case Study
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/47744
ER  -